By IANS, [RxPG] New Delhi, April 19 - A feisty Pakistani minister, who has been slapped with a fatwa earlier this month for hugging her para-jumping instructor, says she doesn't fear for her life nor does the edict worry her.

'Not at all. Do I look worried?' Tourism Minister Nilofer Bakthiar retorted when asked whether she feared for her life in the wake of the fatwa issued by the chief cleric of Islamabad's Lal Masjid urging the government to sack her after newspapers published a photograph of her hugging the instructor following a jump in France to raise money for children's charities.

Bakhtiar, who is on a private visit here, was speaking to reporters after a meeting with her Indian counterpart, Ambika Soni.

'I did what was right and patriotic and I fear no one but God,' Bakhtiar had said after the edict was issued, adding for good measure: 'I would do it again happily if it helps the people of Pakistan.'

It took the personal intervention of Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf to cool tempers, with the mosque that had issued the fatwa denying it had done so.